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Shale company Cuadrilla has been fracking at the Preston New Road site since 15 October
Operations have
been suspended at the UK's only active shale gas fracking site following
an earthquake - just 11 days after it was given the go ahead.
Energy
firm Cuadrilla said it would halt fracking at the Lancashire site for
18 hours after a tremor of 0.8 magnitude was recorded.
Drilling for shale gas at Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, started on 15 October after a legal challenge failed.
Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said people should not be concerned.
Fracking in Lancashire was stopped in 2011 after being linked with earthquakes.
The seismic activity was detected by the British Geological
Survey (BGS) at about 12:36 BST and is classed as a "red" event on the
traffic light monitoring system regulated by the Oil and Gas Authority.
Any tremor measuring 0.5 or above means fracking must be temporarily stopped while tests are carried out.
Mr Egan said the 0.5 level was "far below anything that can be felt or cause damage or harm."
He added: "It is an extraordinarily conservative figure far below the 2.5 in Europe or 4 in Canada."
Mr Egan said he expected more incidents to be
recorded because of the sensitivity of the recording equipment the
company was using at the site in Lancashire.
A Cuadrilla spokesman
added: "All the relevant regulators were informed without delay and we
have verified that the well integrity is intact.
"As per the
hydraulic fracture plan in place at Preston New Road, work will now
pause for at least 18 hours and is expected to recommence on Saturday
morning."
A 2.3 magnitude tremor on the Fylde coast seven years ago was probably caused by shale gas test drilling, a study found.
Cuadrilla
said earlier this month it would spend at least three months fracking
two horizontal wells and then test to see if the gas flow was
commercially viable.
Anti-fracking campaigners had tried to stop the process with an injunction bid but failed.
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